Lauding poise of the police after homicide

It is time someone spoke up for the altruistic, dedicated men and women of the Walnut Creek Police Department. This past Thursday afternoon, they silently shined in one of their finest moments, as they protected my family, neighbors and surrounding neighborhoods from a murderer on the loose, following a tragic killing in Larkey Park.

The police were on the scene within five minutes of the shooting. While several officers tried to revive the victim, others set up wide perimeters at every intersection and initiated a shelter-in-place plan. They called in officers from other police departments to expand their numbers. Every single intersection was protected by a smiling, calm face that offered alternate routes.

They did what we all would hope a local police department would do in such an incident. They protected us. They calmed us. They cared for not only the innocent by the alleged killer. They stood their ground for nearly 19 hours, resolving the situation without a second life being taken.

We are indeed blessed to have these valiant men and women as our local police force. With all the negative that’s being spewed about these days, please join me in stopping an officer to say “thank you” when you next see them on their beat.

Debbie AndrewsWalnut Creek

Disregarding the law has consequences

How did we come to the place in California that we defend and honor people who break the law?

When it comes to immigration, we are the most generous country in the world. We welcome more than 1 million immigrants into our country legally every year.

A wise person once wrote that “Every country needs a civic identity. Without borders, a country is not a country but a swamp of competing factions.” A common language is the glue that binds a society together.

According to federal law, immigration is under the jurisdiction of congress and the president. It is not in the purview of local municipalities. That is because immigration is a matter of national security, among other things. We have to know who is coming into our country.

I am sorry that people who “thumb their noses” at our laws are made to feel uncomfortable, but actions do have consequences. Immigration into the United States is a privilege, not a right.

Mae C. Lewis

Orinda

100 days enough to know our mistake

It didn’t take 100 days to realize that the tragic election of Donald Trump may very well be a mistake comparable to the Vietnam and Iraq Wars — that is, an event that will decimate the present and endanger the future of this country and the world.

Besides fulfilling the wildest dreams of every “conservative” by lowering taxes for corporations, deregulating everything in sight, devaluing the natural environment as little more than an impediment to greater profit and choosing another right-wing ideologue who pretends to be “neutral” for the Supreme Court, to name only a small sample of calamities, Trump now refers to the armed forces as “my military,” looking to jack up his low presidential ratings by waging war.

Petulant and impulsive, unknowledgeable yet grandiose, the only thing Trump has proved in 100 days is that virtually everything he says or does produces conflict. May God have mercy on America’s soul for allowing this dangerous shyster to become president.

Greg Marriner

Walnut Creek

Trump-PLO chair meeting ‘sick, absurd’

President Trump meeting with PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (as was scheduled for May 3) is as sick and absurd as the Neville Chamberlain and Hitler get together for “peace in our time.” The PLO teaches their kindergarten children to murder Jews, pays the salary of murderers and celebrates 9/11 as a blessed event. Hamas is even worse as their charter openly calls for the extermination of all the Jews.

Only when the West understands that Arab racism, bigotry and hatred is the intractable issue will a realistic policy be possible — a policy that gives Israel secure borders and Palestinians a future outside of incessant and false victimhood.

Sam Richards has been a newspaper reporter/editor since 1982, when he got his first job as a weekend police reporter in Missoula, Mont. He later worked in Belgrade, Mont. and Tracy, Calif. before joining in 1992 what became the Bay Area News Group. He works out of Walnut Creek, covering a variety of stories, with a focus on City Hall news.

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